THE FIRST DISCIPLES.
The next day while two men named John and Andrew were talking with John
the Baptist, Jesus passed by, and again John said, "Behold the Lamb of
God." These two men had been priests and disciples of John, but they
turned and followed Jesus, and John was content to have them do so, for
he sought no honor for himself. Jesus when he saw them following said,
"What seek ye?"
And they, hardly knowing what to say, and wishing very much to know
Him, said,
"Rabbi, where dwellest thou?"
He did not reprove them for giving Him the honored name of Master, but
said,
"Come and see."
How gladly they went! No one knows where or how He lived, but whether
in a house, or in such a little tent as the people of that region now
carry with them when they travel, it was a quiet place where these two
men who were looking eagerly for the Kingdom of God could sit at the
feet of Jesus and talk with Him. He was a young man like themselves,
but there was a wonderful spirit in Him that made them feel like
worshipping Him.
The first thing that Andrew did was to go and find his brother, Simon
Peter. They were both fishermen from Bethsaida on Lake Galilee, and
had come down to hear the new prophet John.
"We have found the Messiah!" said Andrew, and they both went back to
Jesus.
When the Lord--for this He had been always--saw Simon Peter He saw his
heart, and knew that he would be one of the founders of the kingdom
with Him, and so He, looking straight through him, said,
"Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is
by interpretation Peter." (A stone.)
So John, the loving; Andrew, the obedient, and Peter, the believing
began to follow Jesus. And Peter's strong faith was like a foundation
of stone in the beginning of the building of the kingdom.
There was another man from Bethsaida who had come down to hear John.
His name was Philip. Jesus found him and said, "Follow Me." And he
not only followed Jesus, but he went joyfully to find his friend,
Nathanael, and tell him that they had found the Messiah, Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Nathanael could not believe that the Messiah would be a man of
Nazareth, because the prophets had said that He would come from
Bethlehem.
So he said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
"Come and see," said Philip, urgently, and he went.
As he came to Jesus he met the deep, kind look that had searched
Peter's heart and heard Jesus say,
"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!" He saw
innocence in the heart of Nathanael, but Nathanael wondered how Jesus
could know him.
"Before that Philip called thee when thou wast under the fig-tree, I
saw thee," said Jesus.
Then Nathanael's whole heart went over to Jesus, and he cried, "Rabbi,
Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel!"
He needed nothing more to prove that Jesus was the Christ, but Jesus
told him that he should see greater things, angels out of the open
heaven ascending and descending upon Him.
Nathanael became the fifth disciple. His name was afterward called
Bartholomew.